Countless jobs protected as British Steel subsidiary Offered to French firm

Sale has no impact on ongoing process of promoting remainder of collapsed steelmaker into Turkey’s military pension fund

A British Steel subsidiary was purchased by a French-owned firm, maintaining 400 projects in York.

TSP Jobs, an infrastructure layout company in York, has been marketed to Systra Ltd, a subsidiary of French-based Systra Group, doubling its workforce in the UK and Ireland. The announcement was made on Friday from the official receiver, that has been managing British Steel because its fall in May.

Unlike the steelmaker, TSP Projects is solvent. The sale does not have any impact on the ongoing process of promoting the rest of British Steel to a affiliate of Turkey’s military pension fund Oyak, the official recipient said.

Ataer Holdings, Oyak’s investment arm, has been chosen as the preferred buyer for British Steel and it intends to complete the purchase from the end of the year, pending due diligence checks.

Systra Ltd is a transportation consulting and technology company. It’s worked on projects which range from London’s congestion charge and Crossrail to schemes that facilitate walking and biking.

Pascal Mercier, the company’s chief executive, explained:”This acquisition is a game changer for the UK and Ireland company, placing us among the top UK consulting engineering companies.

“This really is a fantastic fit between two like-minded businesses with a shared commitment to excellence, innovation and safety.”

Oyak is complimentary about the rest of British Steel. Toker Ozcan, who heads the mining metallurgy group at Oyak, told the Financial Times earlier this month that expansion in the steelmaker’s most important plant at Scunthorpe is”quite low” in comparison with other European steel manufacturers.

“We will take productivity to where it has to be,” he explained.

The plans could lead to several hundred job reductions, the newspaperreported.

British Steel employs around 5,000 people, the majority of them in the united kingdom. More than 3,000 work at the Scunthorpe plant.